Draft-preventer or weather-strip.



G. W. CUMMINGS.

DRAFT PREVENTER 0R WEATHER STRIP.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.24.19I1.

Patented Sept. 10, 19.18.

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GEORGE W. CUMMINGS, OF MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA. I

DRAFT-PREVENTER OR WEATHER-STRIP.

A Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

Application filed August 24, 1917. Serial No. 188,044.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. CUMMINGS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Morgantown, in the county of Monongalia and State of WVestVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements ,inDraft-Preventers or Weather-Strips; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled. in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in draft preventers or weatherstrips.

The object of the invention is to provide means especially applicable todoors, whereby when the door is closed, the strip or plate will beactuated to be moved downwardly against the sill thereof, thuspreventing a draft from having passage under the lower edge of the door.r

A still further object of this invention is to provide a door actuatingrod, which is pivotally secured to a bell crank lever, Which bell cranklever is pivotally securedto a bracket, which is secured to the door, aplate carried by the actuated rod, and an actuating member carried bythe door frame, whereby upon the closing of the door, the bell cranklever will be held outwardly, urging the operating rod downwardly andmoving the plate downwardly into engagement with the sill for closingthe crack or space between the lower edge of the door and sill, thuspreventing a passage of air therethrough or under.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a draft preventeror weather strip of this character, which will be simple, practical andcomparatively inexpensive in construction and one that can bemaunfactured and sold at a low cost.

lVith these and other objects in View, the invention consist in thenovel combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter morefully described and set forth in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation illustrating my improved draft preventeror weather strip as applied to a door and as made in accordance withthis invention.

Fig. 2 i a vertical sectional View of the same.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the manner in which the springadjusting collar is secured to the operatlng rod.

Like numerals of reference designate corpose of which will behereinafter more fully described.

An L-shaped bracket 5 is secured by one flange as at 6 to the front faceof the door at the upper longitudinal edge thereof and centrally of theside edges, While its other flange is arranged at right angles thereto.A bell crank lever 7 is pivotally secured as at 8 to the right angularlyextending flange of the bracket 5.

An operating rod 9 has its upper end bifurcated as at 10, whichbifurcated end is pivotally secured as at 11 to one arm of the bellcranklever 7. The lower or free end of the rod isadapted to extendthrough the rightan'gularly extending lip 12 of the attaching plate 13,which plate is secured as at 14 to the front face of the door, centrallyof the sides thereof and intermediate the ends thereof. 7 j 7 Anadjustable collar 15 is slidably arrangedon the operating rod 9 and isadapted to be held in various adjusted positions thereon by a suitabletype of thumb screw 16, extending transversely therethrough and engagingthe operating rod to permit the collar to be moved vertically upon therod and held in its adjusted position.

A coiled spring 17 surrounds the operating rod 9 and has one endabutting the upper side of the right angularly extending lip 12 of theplate 13 as shown at 18, while its opposite end is arranged in spacedrelation to the under side of the collar 15. The upper convolution ofthe coiled spring 17 is extended upwardly in a vertical plane andparallel with the operating rod and extends up through and beyond theadjusting collar 15 as at 19.

A flexible weather strip carrying plate 20 is slidably arranged on thefront face of the door adjacent the lower edge thereof and is movableVertically in a pair of spaced guides 21, which guides are secured tothe front face of the door as at 22 and their lower ends terminatingadjacent the lower longitudinal edge of the door. The plate isvertically movable under the guides 21 and is supported by a supportingrod 23, which is formed of a single length of material, looped at itsmedial portion to provide a bearing eye 24. The ends of the bearing eyeare bent downwardly at right angles thereto and twisted as at 26, andthe lower ends diverging as at 27 provide supporting arms 28, which aresecured to the front face of the plate 20 as at 29. The bearing eye isslidably arranged on the lower end of the operating rod and is disposedbetween the under side of the adjustable collar 15 and bears against theupper convolution of the spring 17 so as to permit the supporting plate20 to be adjusted to compensate for various distances of space definedbetween the lower edge of the door and the sill, which is designated 30in the drawing.

A flexible weather strip 31 is secured as at 32 to the rear side of theplate and is adapted to have contact with the upper side of the sill 30when the door is in closed position, thus preventing a space from beingdefined between the lower edge of the door and sill and preventing thepassage of air there- .through or under.

It is to be understood that the plate 20 is operated when the door isclosed through the medium of the operating rod 9 and bell crank lever 7,which has engagement with the actuating member 4: when the door is inclosed position as shown in Fig. 2.

It can also be seen that byadjusting the thumb screw 16 in the collar15, that the plate 20 may be raised or lowered through the medium of thesupporting rod 23 and collar 15, thus various size spaces defined I bythe lower'edge of the door and sill may be kept closed and thus preventa draft from passing thereunder when the door is in closed position.

What is claimed is:

A device of the class described including a frame, a door hingedlymounted in said frame, a bracket rigidly secured to the front face ofthe door at the upper longitudinal edge thereof, a bell crank leverpivotally mounted on the bracket, an attaching plate secured to the doorintermediate the ends thereof, an operating rod pivotally secured toone. arm of the bell crank lever having its opposite end slidablyarranged through the attaching plate, a flexible collar slidably andadjustably mounted on the operating rod, guides secured to the frontside of the door, a plate slidable beneath the guides and in engagementwith the door, a supporting arm secured to the plate having a bearingeye slidably arranged on the operating rod, a coiled spring surroundingsaid operating rod and bearing against the attaching plate having itsopposite end extended up through the adjusting collar, said bearing eyeof the sup porting rod slidably arranged on the operating rod andlocated between the adjusting collar and the upper convolution of thecoiled spring,-and a flexible strip secured to the rear side of theplate, and said plate adapted to be moved downwardly into engagementwith the lower sill of the door frame during the closing movement of thedoor through the medium of the bell crank lever and operating rod, asand for the pur pose specified.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE W. CUMlWINGS.

' Witnesses:

EDWARD G.'DONLEY, ALBERT SHUMAN.

Copies ofthis patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

" Washington, D. G.

